We know it’s going to rain in Central Florida in June and July, but it’s been overly wet around here, and Tropical Storm Elsa had a hand in that earlier this month.
The amount of rain creates ideal conditions for the sudden appearance of a teeming throng of tiny frogs in numerous places across the Sunshine State. The tiny frogs that form these hordes are in fact a common species of toad (a toad is just a specific type of frog) that is most often encountered during short periods every few years— the Eastern Spadefoot Toad.
They are triggered to come out of hiding and engage in a raucous, short-lived, explosive breeding event when torrential storm rains fall during the warm summer months. Adult spadefoots hop into action as rain fills small ponds and depressions in forested areas, pastures, and even neighborhood yards, that are usually dry.
Adult toads migrate from surrounding upland, underground retreats to these newly formed breeding sites to produce the next generation of toads. This breeding frenzy usually lasts only one or two days. While floating at the surface of the shallow breeding pond, males call loudly to attract females. When one approaches and bumps into him, the male quickly grasps her around the waist to stimulate the release of her eggs. Adult females can lay several thousand eggs, which are fertilized by the male after the female releases them (external fertilization). Immediately after breeding, adult males and females leave the shallow wetlands, and their eggs, and hop back to their upland hiding places.
The embryos develop and hatch into small, black larvae in as little as 24 hours, depending on the water temperature. These larvae quickly develop into recognizable tadpoles. Water temperature not only largely dictates the time it takes eggs to hatch, but also the rate at which tadpoles develop. The warmer the water, the faster they grow.
If the ponds retain water and the tadpoles have enough to eat, the young will make a sudden appearance a few weeks later when they complete development simultaneously, undergo metamorphosis, and emerge from the pond as tiny toads.
These tiny toads are only about the size of a raisin, but there can be so many of them that they may cover the ground in a literal “carpet of toads.”
YouTube has a list of videos about these interesting little amphibians, search for Eastern Spadefoot Toads. A short one can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwT0YHwc81M
